Stricker wins no-name World Match Play title

Three days before Christmas, Stricker was No. 90 in the world ranking and preparing to start his season next week in Tucson at a second-tier PGA Tour event. He wound up in Australia for a $5 million World Golf Championship event when Tiger Woods, David Duval and two dozen other top players decided against a trip halfway around the world.

''I was lucky to get in,'' he said.

Skill took over when the tournament started.

After six matches over five grueling days at Metropolitan Golf Club and a 72-hole weekend with stakes that grew higher with every round, Stricker had a headstart on the new season and a jumpstart to his career.

With a putting performance equal to Woods, Stricker never trailed in his 36-hole final against Pierre Fulke and held on for a 2-and-1 victory. He earned $1 million, nearly as much as he made the past two years combined.

All of which begs one question -- could he have won against the best?

''They all had the opportunity to commit and come over, and they didn't,'' Stricker said. ''That's all I care about it. It's a big win, it's my biggest win and it gets me going in the right direction. They can say whatever they want, because I feel like I deserved it.''

He played 118 holes this week and was behind on only nine of them. And when the pressure reached its peak Sunday, the 33-year-old from Wisconsin closed with seven pars on a course that was dry, fast and as difficult as at any major championship.

Two of those pars came from the treacherous bunkers of Metropolitan, followed by downhill putts that broke hard and fast.

''At times I didn't hit the greatest,'' Stricker said. ''I just like the way I gutted it out.''

Stricker was the 55th seed, the highest to win the Accenture Match Play Championship in the three years it has been played. That's nothing new. Only one top-10 seed has ever reached the finals (Woods) and Darren Clarke at No. 19 is the lowest seed to win.

Stricker arrived a week ago Sunday, expecting to see kangaroos hopping about and not really sure what his game would produce.

''I just figured I would win a couple of matches and get ready for the West Coast,'' he said.

Instead, he mowed down every opponent and found motivation from each of them. It wasn't hard to find something inspiring about his 36-hole final against Fulke, a 29-year-old Swede who already has locked up a spot on the Ryder Cup team.

After eliminating No. 1 seed Ernie Els in the semifinals, Fulke talked about how a victory would enable him to play on the PGA Tour, the sooner the better.

''I looked at today's match like the key match, beating Ernie,'' Fulke said Saturday night, after the semifinals

Fulke hit into eight greenside bunkers over the first 18 holes and struggled to save par, falling 2-down in the morning. Stricker never let him back up.

Stricker faced 18 putts with the hole on the line and made 14 of them Sunday, including a 20-footer for par on the 11th that kept his lead at 1-up. Fulke twice missed 4-foot birdie putts and missed another one from 12 feet.

''I just couldn't buy a putt, not even with $1 million,'' Fulke said.

He had to settle for $500,000, the biggest check in his career.

In the consolation match, Toru Taniguchi of Japan easily defeated an uninspired Els, 4 and 3, which earned him $400,000 and valuable world ranking points that will go a long way toward getting into the Masters.

Stricker could get to Augusta National, too.

The Masters takes the top three players from the 2001 money list through Doral. Last year, Kirk Triplett was No. 3 with $968,185. Stricker has $1 million and still four tournaments to play.

It would be a nice comeback for a player who only four years ago was considered a rising star after two victories in 1996.

With success came riches, and with riches came trouble.

He got rid of his Peerless irons to sign a lucrative deal with Taylor Made, and the new equipment made him blink. A switch to Ping didn't help, and now Stricker has no club deal and likes it that way.

In his bag this week were clubs made by Callaway, Cobra, Ping, Titleist and Odyssey. Worth noting is that the driver (Callaway Big Bertha, a dinosaur in today's high-tech market) and the putter (Odyssey) were the same ones he used in 1996.

And for five days, it looked like the same Stricker.

''I dug down deep a couple of times and really executed some shots that I really needed,'' he said. ''And I kept that killer instinct.''

That could carry him a long way this year, and a long way from where he was.